4.12 Why SCA Beat NAS at the Grad Show Grand Finals

Transcript

Hey man. Yo dude, what’s up? Not much, not much. We’re, yeah. Yeah. You go first. Oh, thank

you man. My name’s Matt. I’m just trying to channel, I’m all tired now and hung over and sleepy, but I’m trying to channel the vibes that I had when I was at the SCA Grad Show. Yeah. Because you didn’t get to see it. Yeah. So I need to take you back there. Yeah. It was really fucking good. Yeah. Shit. I really, really liked it. I was super impressed with the quality of the work.

Yeah. I loved the like higgledy-piggledy vibes, like, you know, old teachers college shoved shit in rooms, but it wasn’t like as hardcore as last year. Or maybe it’s like, I kind of, I went last year, so I like know the laid out, the low down. Cause last year I was like, why is this fucking thing in

like a broom cupboard? And I didn’t get it, but this year I was prepared for the broom cupboards. And I think they like curated it a bit better. Um, but yeah, overall, like we don’t really go work by work anymore, but, um, just, yeah, overall a really cool vibe. Like I, I, I sense like a real

like sophistication and like, like passion and like integrity in like a lot of the work, particularly like the video stuff, which I’m like always pressed about. I’m like video artists, like don’t care about their audience and video artists, like need to fucking pay attention to people who make movies,

take a leaf out of their book and like, you know, make it, make something that a million people want to go and see. Not like something that like one person like can’t bear to stand in front of. Or like one person feels like they have to see. Yeah. Um, but yeah, there’s like, Watch it all the way to the end. Or you’re like, you walk into the room halfway through and you’re like, okay. And then like end credits and then the first half, and then you can leave.

Legit. It’s a weird thing that we’ve, they should put a big play button in the gallery. That would be sick. It’s an empty room with one button and a nice sofa in it. Yeah. Sit down. You’re like wiggle your butt into position and then you go click. Yeah. Or like, I always thought it would be so nice to, and I’m sure like people have done this

stuff before, but like, give me like a, let me rent the video work for like, you know, let me get one play. So like me and you can fucking lay here and eat and slice epic pizza and like watch a really sick video work. Yeah. We’ll pay for it. And we just get one watch. Yeah. That sounds epic. I don’t know if like the economy of it works that way. But yeah, like video work was really sick.

There was a couple of performances. One, I think you would have quite liked. It was like literally a dinner party in the middle of the grad show. That’s cool. And like people were like eating pasta and chatting and shit. Cool. And it was like audience participation mode. That was funny. And then there was one that actually looked really cool. It was like people walking around with these shirts that said like the modern

man tour and I like saw the artist, but I didn’t see the performance. I missed it. Yeah. And yeah, there was another couple of really sick videos, but yeah, overall super cool. Yeah. Um, I don’t know if we’ll get into it or not, but there was definitely like a divide aesthetically, like super broadly speaking between like the quote unquote, more serious artists who are

like doing more of the work of like, you know, art school stuff and more of the type of thinking and making that like, uh, you know, people that will go on to show in galleries do. And there was still like, you know, the same as like, I imagine at any art school or most art schools,

maybe at 20% roughly of people who were kind of just like, fuck that. Yeah. Like I’m on my own thing. Yeah. What we were calling last night, the deviant art. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s kind of got that deviant art flavor. Um, and yeah, that was interesting.

I’m not going to like, I’m not really like, uh, like philosophically that interested in like being like, this is good. This is bad at the moment. Yeah. And you know, we’re talking about like people who are mostly in their early twenties and are like in a long cycle of practice and progression.

Um, but yeah, it’s, it’s cool. And I guess like, yeah, one of the other things that like was striking about this, like the overall grad show experience, um, because it’s so unlike on any other shows just because of the nature of it was, um, yeah, just like the way that at the SCA show, and I’m sure you’ll tell me and from memory,

like NAS kind of has more formality about it, but like sometimes at SCA there’s like big ass paintings and then they’re like in a hallway. Yeah. They’re literally in a hallway. Yeah. Or there’s like a really cool, serious video work. And then there’s still like a whiteboard in the room with like a joke on it from like that,

like a wine glass. Cool. There were these little, like, what do you call these? Like little, um,

Prong. Yeah. Little prong things like connected to a whiteboard, like on a, on a wall that like, I don’t know, you fucking store something in there. Okay. But someone had like put champagne flutes in them, like at the top and bottom as like a little joke. Yeah. Like in the serious video work. Yeah. They’re just like a general sense of like play.

Play. Yeah. Um, there’s this funny little like courtyard where like the DJ was and where the drinks were. And there’s like this old fountain there. And, um, one of our friends was saying that like, apparently the fountains got like, it’s like taken really seriously by the uni. Okay. Like someone wants to like make a work about it or like do something with it. And they were like, no, like no moves on the fountain.

But yeah, overall, like I got to say like really, really cool. Yeah. I was like, you know, I’m sure we’ll get a chance to talk to people. But I was like, oh, like, you know, the teachers are doing something right. Or the cohort are doing something right. Cool. If they’re like having to teach themselves. Yeah. If that’s the vibe. Interesting. But yeah, there was lots of just interesting stuff.

And I guess it helped like, you know, I’d very much calibrated my mood. Like I was like trying to make it fun and trying to make it loud and like see video works, you know, like loud work and fun work and like, um, attention grabby work is just going to do better. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. Interesting. Um, overall cool. But yeah, like, I mean, grad shows, a grad show, it’s not my favorite way to like, engage with work, but yeah, you know, I know it’s a, it’s a pretty big deal for people and it’s, it’s sweet to hear about people’s families and stuff and yeah, but overall, um, I thought it was, it was quite good.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Good. Um, summation of the night. Thank you. I w I kind of wish I had been at that one because I didn’t really have that much fun at the Nass one. I, um, had had a long day, very long day, you know, um, and I’ve been working a lot recently. So it was like, you know, another thing like in, in the list of things, but you know, I wanted

to go and it was, it was cool to see the show. Um, the vibe was like quite different. We were saying earlier, like, um, like I was talking about like Nass parents, um, are quite different from like SCA parents. I’m sure you guys can imagine like there was, there was much more parents like at Nass, like

yes, smoking and drinking and like partying with the kids and stuff, which was funny. Um, everyone at like, so certain point I got there pretty late, like seven 30 or something like people were like, Oh, thank God. Like the parents have left SCA. Like now we can relax. So yeah, I think quite different. True. Yeah. Get the parents in, get the parents out.

Yeah. Yeah. Totally. And then, but SCA it’s like, no, the parents, like, yeah, the parents are here later than us. Yeah, for sure. I was definitely like whipping through it as you kind of, if you need to see all the work, you kind of have to whip through the whole show. And it was like, it was kind of funny, like fun, sort of seeing tons of art. And like, I saw some cool stuff.

I saw a bunch of stuff that just didn’t make me feel anything. Like I just walked right past it. No offense. Um, and I saw a couple of things that really stood out to me that I was like, okay, this person’s like going to sell, you know, for double next year or whatever. Um, or like someone’s going to get picked up by a gallery here.

Um, yeah, it’s funny. Like they, they did have a bit of that kind of incidental, like in the hallway type stuff. But I guess the thing about NAS is that like, like, yes, it was an old, like, you know, asylum or whatever, but you know, for the last couple of decades or whatever, it’s been very much an art space.

And so when you’re installing like a stack of bean cans in the hallway, it doesn’t feel as incidental as it would at SCA, you know, where it’s like, like I was saying, I was doing musicology classes in those rooms, like not even five years ago. Oh yeah. Just about five years ago. Yeah. Um, and yeah, it was cool. Like the, the, it was kind of funny sort of, uh, like laughing at the like DJ set up

and like being introduced to like NAS teachers who I like, I don’t fucking know. And like people are like, what, you don’t, you don’t know Roger. What do you mean? You don’t know Roger. I’m like, I, sorry. I don’t, I’m like, did you study here? And they’re like, of course he studied. Like how could you? You know Roger now though. Yeah. Now I know Roger. Yeah. What’s up Roger. If you’re listening. Did they still have, um, I remember, I think last year it was like, you’ve got like the

galleries, which are segmented by the studios. Medium. And then you have the studios, but everyone gets like a space in both, which is like, seems more equitable, but I’m not exactly sure how it works in SCA, but they have like spaces that you’re allotted. Yeah. And it’s a bit of a shit show from what I’ve heard, like how they get, you know?

Yeah. Cause the installation happens so late. You still have to fight for your space. Exactly. And then, uh, there’s like this gallery room. And I guess one of the teachers who is a curator, I think like curates the whole show. And, um, we were talking to a friend last night and they were saying like the gallery section,

like not everyone gets a place in that. Yeah. It’s not like at NASS where you get your room and your gallery. It’s like, they kind of choose like the whatever, like, you know, the best stuff, I guess, is like a simple way of putting it. In air quotes. In air quotes. Scare quotes. Yeah, exactly. And like, this goes in the gallery and yeah, apparently that, that space does get more

attention and a bit more love. So that’s kind of interesting. Like that doesn’t really feel, that feels more like NASS mode, like from what people say to have that. But yeah, sure. Yeah. It’s like, you’re, you’re paying a lot of money. So like, you’ve got to get your art in the gallery. Oh yeah. Sure. You know, sure. That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah.

That’s interesting. Um, yeah. I thought that’s like quite an interesting dynamic. Comparable these days for like SCA and NASS. We should look that up. Yeah. We should look that up. Hey, it’s Matt here. We looked it up and the first year at NASS will cost you about $14,700. First year at SCA will cost you around $11,100.

You know, you said art degrees now are fucking stupid expensive. Yeah. Yeah, totally. Um, um, yeah. But that is like, that’s an interesting feature, I think of the SCA show. And I didn’t know that last year. And so I was like, some of the particularly like chopped works that like were unsellable.

Yeah. And didn’t give a fuck about being sold and didn’t give a fuck. They were like punk. Yeah. Coded. They’re like, fuck you. Like, I don’t care that this like, you know, couldn’t be sold or this is my concept. And like, I don’t care if it scares you and it’s in a cupboard. Like walking from that and then into this kind of pristine gallery was a bit of like a shock,

you know? And I couldn’t help but think like last year, be like, oh, this is like where the normal art is. Yeah. Just because it was easier to read. This is where the sellable art is. Yeah. That’s what, that’s what I’m saying. But yeah, I mean, there’s obviously like, I thought the stuff in the gallery this year was really quite good. Yeah. Cool. Honestly, like almost everything I was like, damn.

Cool. Wow. It sounds like, um, SCA is pulling ahead in, um, in the grad show, the great grad show showdown. I mean, yeah. Who knows? Maybe I was just in a good mood. Yeah. Maybe I was in a pretty good mood. I was just tired. Art viewing is pretty fickle. Yes. Like everything. Yeah. The, the social vibes were funny at NASA as well.

It was like very much like, like, do I say hi to this person that like, I know I’ve met before. Yeah. Are we going to finally have our like massive slam down of whatever the fuck this is? Yeah. I was thinking about that last night and this morning. Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know. What is that? People like, people like pretending not to know you or like, like, yeah, I don’t know.

There’s something going on. It’s like tension and anxiety. Yeah. There’s, oh yeah. Someone was saying that there’s like all this like anxious, like male energy in Sydney. And I was like, damn, that’s a good way of putting it. That’s true. And I’m like, we’re exploring it and we’re talking about it. And like, you know, I, I think it’s like to do with cities as well.

Yeah. I think I agree. To do with fucking capitalism and work. Took the words right out of my mouth. But it’s also like beyond that, it also seems to have to do with like peculiarities of subcultures. Yeah. But yeah, I’m just, I mean, I’m, I don’t want to like, I don’t have firm conclusions. I got to say like overall, I, and I think I can speak for both of us.

I’m not like stoked with the state of it. Like it’s, yeah, it’s not. Maybe I should give an example to spell out what we’re talking about. Yeah, sure. Okay. One of the artists that was in the NAS grad show, I met him at a, another show at Catalyst.

No, Catalyst. What was it called? Let’s see. Canteen. Like a couple of years ago, there was like some cool show on a canteen. I think it might’ve been the Alvin Willie show actually, where we got these paintings at. And it’s like, he’s talking to his friend and I’m just like, you know, feeling like talking to strangers. Um, and so I like, I go up and I’m like, can I have a lighter?

Like, yeah, yeah. And it’s like, are you guys artists? And they both like look at each other and they’re like, no. Or something. And I’m like, all right. I love the look at each other. I know. They literally like checked in with each other. Like, do you like this guy? No. Do you like this guy? No. And they just like blew me off. And I was like, fuck you, dude. And then like, yeah, just, you know, shit like that.

And like, there is very much a bit of a like sort of scene where that’s cool. Cause like, you know, we’ve definitely come across circles, like big sort of greater circles. You and I, who are like, where people are going like, Hey, like lovely to meet you, you know? And like curious about you. It’s just normal. Yeah. That’s the normal thing. And the sad thing is like from being here for so long, like sometimes I think we’ve like, like normalize not doing that almost.

Yes. Do you know what I mean? It’s like the default is not to be like, Oh, Hey dude. Yeah. Like I met you once before. And so it’s can be even surprising sometimes when some, particularly like a lot of normies are like that. They’re just like, Oh, Hey, I met you once a year ago. Like I know who you are. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. And I think it’s hard because like, you know, as artists or like artistic people, like a lot of the stuff that we love and we’re always talking about music and photos and art and painting is all about like, I don’t know, generosity.

And like, so like there’s so much humanism and like, you know, when we listen to a record and we’re moved by a piece of art, like there’s a lot of beauty and vulnerability. And it feels like super jarring to be like looking at someone’s work and be like, fuck, like you’re, you’re giving so much in this work. And like, you’re thinking so much about like your feelings and like love and pain and humanity.

But then like in the room, like you’re being like a cold, distant person. Yeah. And I think that’s why it’s even more painful to swallow. Cause I’m like, look at this. This is so beautiful. Yes. Because if it was just like finance bros, legit, it would be like, Oh yeah, of course. That fits my model of the world. Like I get it. Of course he’s a wanker.

So yeah. Who’s laughing now? Yeah. I think it’s just like, you know, I don’t know my position. It seems your position is like, you’re a really chatty, like friendly, generous person. Thanks. And like, to be fair, like anytime I go to a show with you, like you may not see it, but like people are always like, Hey Matt, like bye Matt, like all the time.

Okay. And so I think there’s a sense of like, you know, everyone wants this like recognition and like this feeling of like, I made it as an artist. So I made it in Sydney, but it’s like, it’s almost feels like part of the system is like, it never is going to feel like enough. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Or something like, like you want to feel like sort of socially, like the status thing.

And like, maybe you, like, I guess I suppose what I’m saying is that it seems like there’s this feeling going on that like, if I, if I like remember someone’s name, for example, or if I’m like chatty and, and like, I mean, being chatty, it’s just a disposition. Like, you know, you can’t force people to do that. But if I’m like friendly, like it like robs my, my chances of like being that like high status, like art person.

Which is fucking crazy. Like we’re not doing that. Like, I’m sorry. We’re not making ourselves miserable for like some weird status thing. It’s just not worth it in the end of the day. I’m doing the, like, you’re a wanker, like hand gesture. Um, yeah, it sucks. But, uh, there was one thing I wanted to say on that.

Um, yeah, I don’t know. It’ll come back to me, but like, I think at the moment it’s just like really cool to be, oh yeah, this was it. It was like this frame of like, we won’t say who it is. Cause it’s like, yeah, I just won’t say who it is. Um, but someone that I think like you met once and they kind of like did a bit of a snub or whatever.

And then like, you know, maybe you were like told, like maybe someone told them about you or some way they like realized again, air quotes that you were like cool. Okay. And then now it’s like, oh, Hey dude, what’s up? Like you got, um, to me. Yeah. It’s like, you got like passed.

I’ll tell you when we’re not recording. All right, cool. Um, T, you know what I mean? It’s like, it’s like the first pass is like this judgmental, like the neutral is like, you’re probably not. Like I probably should give you nothing. Yeah. And then if like someone tells me you’re cool, I see you online or it’s like, okay, cool.

Now I’ll be nice. Yeah. But I think the better way would be, let’s start with generosity and be like, we’re both at the same art show. Yeah. We’re probably both like, you know, really into art or whatever. Like we probably can have a pleasant conversation if we’re both in this fucking super niche room right now. Like we’ll start with generosity.

And then if you’re an asshole, then I’ll be like weird and cold to you. Yeah, exactly. But like we got something twisted when we, um, yeah, we started with the other way. We get it all backwards people. It’s all backwards. I mean, my feeling is just to go like hippie mode and be like, you know, just keep putting out love and be like, do what you can do.

Amen. Because when you feel like, yeah, when you feel this stuff, like it’s the harder job to like keep being cool, keep being kind. Like what else can you do? Like that hippie music, Marissa. I know. Can’t we all just get along? We’re all hippies deep down in our hearts. Yeah. I know. In this room anyway.

Yeah. Yeah.

So that’s Sydney. But yeah, maybe it’s Sydney. Maybe it’s not. Yeah. I want to keep an open mind to it as well. And Gemma, my partner and I have been talking a lot about like whiteness and like what’s the center of the art world. And, you know, like POC stuff and community and like, you know, thinking about some of the stuff we’ve gone to in para.

And like just even the way gigs feel in para. Like they feel different to me. Yeah, for sure. Instantly they feel like, and so I’m like, hmm, like let’s not, or like Gemma was saying this to me this morning. Like, let’s not, you know, let’s just check what we’re doing here. Like, you know, is, is it like, it is a super white kind of center, like the inner west.

And like, you know, it’s built on like some pretty institutional like structures. Yeah. And like, you know, it’s, it’s trying to be the center of the like cultural capital. Yeah. But like, it’s not necessarily like, it’s the one we’re in because we live here, but it’s not necessarily like the whole picture.

No. And like, but yeah, I just don’t, I want to be careful when we say like that’s Sydney, that we’re not just saying like, that’s like white students from NAS and SCA, like of this age in like six suburbs. Yeah. Like that’s not necessarily like the center of like, you know, the whole, everything we’ve got here.

For sure. Yeah. Important to keep in mind. Yeah. I mean, I know you’re not all white, but like, you know, there’s a lot of whiteness things going on.

You can say that again.

Cool. Yeah. Okay. I’ve got a story for you.

Please. So, this happened today. Is this today? Mere hours ago. Oh no. Don’t spoil it if you’ve heard it already, please. So, I wake up, pretty hungover. We had a fun dinner party last night, Christmas.

Lovely menu and everything, like tables laid out, candles. I cooked a whole fish. Yeah. Lots of lovely conversations, meeting new people, interesting new people.

Aiden cooked a whole fish. Two fish. Two fish, dude. And so, there I am. I wake up in a stupor. It’s like, you know, we did some stuff last night that’s not drinking. And, um. Oh. Yeah, brother.

Yeah, because we’re bad like that. We’re like, we’re like the cool mean podcaster. I wake up. I’m like, take one look at my flat. It looks like fucking mess. All right. We’re going to, first things first, we’re going to have a coffee put on Steve McQueen by Prefab Sprout really loud with the subwoofer kicking in.

And we’re going to clean this flat up. So, I’m like racing around like a bumblebee. I’m like fucking stack the tape back up, wipe the table, running back and forth between the rooms. And I have this, um, uh, you know, true fans of the show will know I have this single hob Ikea induction cooker that I use, um, for reasons.

For very good reasons. And it sits on the stovetop, on the normal stovetop when it’s, you know, when it’s being used. Cause that’s just like the only other place that I have for it. And usually, you know, I’m careful with like kitchen stuff. You know, we, we work in kitchens a lot. You and I. You’re so careful. I’m a careful, careful cook. And, um, there I am racing back and forth.

Um, Bonnie don’t live at home. And fucking, um, what’s the other one? Um, desire is a self-figured creature. And I’m like singing along, having a great morning. Okay. I’m in a good mood, you know? Yeah. And, uh, I’m in here, I’m in the living room away from the kitchen. I’m like cutting my fingernails. It’s the last thing that I was going to do before, you know, I get to sit down and watch

an episode of like Futurama or something with my coffee. And then I just hear beep, beep, beep in the kitchen. It’s the smoke alarm going off. And I’m like, okay, that’s, that’s weird. I’m not cooking anything. Usually that only goes off when I cook a steak. That’s the only time I ever hear it. I set it off a few times when I lived here. Yeah.

I remember when I was cooking. That’s funny. Uh, I go in and there is plumes, like huge plumes of black, like toxic fucking plastic smoke. Like what’s happened is I’ve knocked the, uh, the controls on my normal oven into like full blast and it’s melting the foot of my Ikea hub.

Jesus Christ. And this fucking thing. Oh my God. I inhaled so much of that stuff. I probably lost like a few IQ points today. Just, just breathing that shit in. And, um, yeah, I just spend the next like hour cleaning up this like industrial disaster. Like, you know, we’re fishing penguins out of the bay.

We’re, we’re wiping their feathers. Oh, that sucks. We’re fucking releasing the, uh, endangered snakes back into the unburnt habitat. We’re putting up a cordon around the area. It was, it was so bad. I had to get a plastic glove on. Oh, cool. It sounded like you kind of handled it like a trooper there.

I was pretty calm. Were you just like resolute? You’re like, I got to deal with this now. I was just hoping that the landlord wasn’t around, um, and would like come and see what all the fuss was about. Cause like a couple of smoke alarms went off. Landlord dodged. Yeah. Landlord officially dodged for another week. Downstairs housemate not dodged. So we came home and downstairs housemate was like.

Yeah. Oh yeah. True. Yeah. Fuck. I thought I got away with it. He’s like, did you blow up a piece of electronics this morning? No. I told him no. I think I, I think I like denied everything. Yeah. Cause you got to keep that shit under wraps. That’s the safest option. That’s what BP does. So the moral of the story is keep an eye on the hots.

Yeah, bro. I’m surprised this shit doesn’t happen more often. In here? In the world. Okay. Cause I was thinking like, what if I had just left halfway through that, there would be no more house. The whole place would have burned down. True. You know. Yeah. How many of those close calls happen per day? I know. All of my cool shit. All of the art that I’ve bought. We got to get insurance on this bitch.

Yeah. Let’s insure just the art. What’s worth more? The art or the records? The air conditioner is worth the most. The air conditioner is worth one, like good artwork. True. So. The Dyson. And you can just, at home, you can figure out what you think that, what you think that’s worth. Yeah. True. Which artwork.

Yeah. And which one. Yeah. That’s going to take some serious research. We have done, you know what? It could be time for a bit of an art update. Have we purchased any art recently?

Have you got something coming? Yes. Actually, I do. Well, let’s do it after you get that. Okay. Yeah. And I think you and I went to the dark room the other week. Yeah. That was fun. So I guess I will get to make some art. Yeah. Which would be fun. Did I say? I think that’ll be like the first actual, like completed visual art I will have made.

Ooh. Like maybe ever. Oh. I saw some nice charcoal sketches once upon a time. Yeah. There were some charcoal sketches and there were some conceptual works. I guess you could say there were sort of. But like they were drafts. Yeah. I would say. Yeah. That’s what I realized the other day. I was thinking about those early works that I made and they were like cool or whatever, but I think I was more comfortable with writing at the time.

And with writing, I knew it was a draft and that was okay. And the funny thing about writing is if you zoom out a little bit, like a draft looks the same as a finished poem. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Like if you don’t read it, if you just look at it on the screen. Yeah. Whereas like a draft quote unquote of like a visual work looks like shit.

Like if it’s, if you like analog it to the first draft of a poem. Sure. Do you know what I mean? Sure. Yeah. But I didn’t realize that at the time I was just kind of doing like the cringe factor of like, that’s what my drawing looks like. Yeah. But yeah, I would have been cool to realize at the time. Cause even now I’m like, ah, conceptually there was some stuff there. Yeah. I think it’s nice to come back to it now. This really like slow and like listeners probably have heard this whole arc of photography for

me. Yeah. So it was really nice to now, um, shoot some film, which I don’t, I don’t really know how I feel about film yet. Yeah. I was saying like, I’m not that interested in, particularly interested in like the way it looks. Yeah. Like the grain or anything. And I’m not particularly interested in like the analogness of it. Yeah.

But I really like it’s like impact on the process and how you think about the photo. For sure. And like, uh, you know, we spent half a day in the dark room and like we were going slow cause it was like my first time, but you know, we basically, we had this lovely, long, like uh, extended morning and I like, you know, ended up processing like literally like 26 photos.

Yeah. In half a day. Yeah. And just going back again and again to like the value of a photo. Yeah. To me is really sweet. And then you said something really cool. You’re like, when you’re going to develop your stuff, you almost start to think about like the role. Yeah. Like as a, as a unit. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And I love all these little.

And like you start to think about when you’re taking the photo, you start to think about like that whole process, like from snapping in the shutter to like finally printing the finished negative, you know, a couple of days later. Like that to me is the main reason I’m still shooting film and like, um, really loving it

is that, you know, I, I get to get, I mean, on the one hand, like very cheap, extremely cheap, big prints, you know, like photo paper is cheap. It’s like a couple of bucks a sheet max, you know, and you, you get this like gorgeous, like really, um, what’s the word? Like deep print, um, for very little money and effort.

Uh, you know, whereas if you print it, if you wanted to print something digitally at that quality, it’d be like 50 bucks, a hundred bucks ago, maybe. I don’t know. I never do that. So I don’t know. Correct me if I’m wrong. Um, so yeah, that’s, it’s a, it’s a really, it’s a good excuse to be shooting film. I mean, even though the price keeps going up, um, if you get that uni film, uh, yeah,

we haven’t got a hookup. Yeah. Yeah. 10 bucks a go. Yeah. That’s, that’s pretty good. We got actually, I need some more of that. I’m running out. So if anyone’s still at, uh, got the uni hookup, please let me know. Yeah. That’s cool. Yeah. That was really fun. And I think, I think it’d be really nice, um, to print something. It was cool.

We did like, we didn’t. Oh yeah. Can I just say this is all at, um, Sydney dark room. By the way, uh, that’s at Sydney dark room on Instagram. Go check them out. They do classes and just, you can also just book dark room time if you just need a dark room. And there’s a lovely antique shop just up the road while you’re waiting for your film to

dry, which may or may not have some, uh, Nazi affiliations.

Affiliations is a bit. Yeah. That’s libel. I said what I said. There was a lot of things from Germany. Let’s just say in the shop. That’s all I’ll say. That is like literally, yeah. It’s slander. Yeah. But you know, he doesn’t listen to the podcast. Yeah. He should. But I didn’t, I didn’t name the antique store.

So it could be one of millions of antique stores. Um, yeah, that’s cool. Yeah. Um, anything else going on? Um, I’ve been working lots. Yeah. Um, burning out. You’re like a fashion. I’m a fashion guy now. That’s cool, man. People are like, what do you do for work?

And I can actually say, I’ll help light fashion ads, which is ridiculous. Yeah. That’s sick, dude. They’re like, you do what? That’s so sick. Yeah. It’s fun. That’s a really good job. Um, it’s like we were saying, it’s like the perfect job for you. Yeah. Literally. It’s so good for me. Yeah. Yeah.

It’s like, we got the talking, we got the equipment and the toys. We got the like different locations all the time. Active. You’re up on your feet all the time. Chatting to people, making art all the time. Making things work. One thing that I was saying last night was, it’s so cool how like, um, you know, so you

set up and you’re like, you’ve got the model, you’ve got the dress on the model and like, everything’s like, you know, ready to go. And then there’s this, there’s this moment where like, I don’t know, like 10 pairs of eyes are looking at this one scene and like, maybe this one photograph, like, like really focusing on the tiniest little minutia, like the dress is wrinkled there.

Like, you know, unfold it with like, you know, the stylist will go and unfold it. And then like, we’ll be like, we have to move the light, like 10 centimeters this way and like, try again. Okay. Turn it down by 10%. You know, all these little micro adjustments are like, that’s bonkers to me that we’re all, you know, that invested in something so small. That’s awesome.

Yeah. That’s so sick. Yeah. I love this sense of like, um, collaboration as well. Yeah. That is really cool. That’s something that I feel like it’s just, yeah, it’s just a really nice way to be and to work. Like, and like, when I was a programmer, like that’s something that I just didn’t fuck with.

Yeah. Cause like. You didn’t get that. Well, you, you are hyper-focused on tiny details. Yeah. But you just get your one little. But it’s just you. Yeah. It was just you in a room and the pixels. Yeah. I’m like, I would love to, I would love to be doing this like in a group. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I think that’s really sick. Yeah.

And yeah, it just must be a really like, you know, programming is most of the time it’s like, you know, like it’s essentially finance bro mode where you’re like, every pixel you change is just like commerce, commerce, commerce. But like. I mean, this is commerce too. It is commerce. It’s like. But like. Yeah. The people, but there’s an abstraction it seems.

Yes. Because it’s like a lot of the people on the shoots are like. Artists. Yeah. Artistic and weird and doing cool stuff. Yeah. So there’s still a moment, like you’re still producing. Yeah. Some kind of, I don’t know if it’s like punkdom. Yeah. But there might be, are there like accidental moments of that? Like even on like a pretty lame shoot.

So like to me, like that’s the measure of like a good team and shoot. Like if they have like tiny little like digressions, like, ooh, like that’s beautiful. And like, that’s just art, you know, for a second. Yeah. Like let it just be art for a second. Yes. Like that does happen. It comes up quite a lot, you know, like we’ll get a photo with like, I don’t know,

someone pushing a trolley in the background, like, you know, even though that wasn’t called for or whatever. But I mean, it’s funny, you’re supposed to, especially if you’re junior like me, you’re kind of supposed to like, I think you’re supposed to kind of keep your trap shut. Like, I’m like, wow, that’s so cool. And everyone’s like, dude, just be cool. Just be cool, man. Shut the fuck up.

And that’s just like being an enthusiastic person as well. Well, the thing is, is like, that’s who I am. And like my, my main photographer was like, just, just be yourself. Like, you know, we were talking like when I was right, just getting into this, like a couple of years ago, it was like, how do I be, how do I act? And then like, you know, the other day he was like, like, you’re doing good.

Just like continue to be yourself. And I’m like, okay, cool. Like, that’s, that’s nice to hear. Yeah. That’s sick. Like, don’t fucking get your head up. Yeah. Yeah. That’s sick. That’s cool, man. I’m very happy for you. Thank you. Yeah. It’s been fun. It’s like, it’s, um, it’s crazy working this much. I’m not, I’m not a workaholic type of person, but when you enjoy the company and the work,

it’s like kind of easy to push yourself. Yeah. Literally to the point of exhaustion. Like, yeah, man, you know, that’s, yeah, that’s the, um, fucking capitalist system. Oh, we can do, I’m obsessed with cycles, cycle, cycle, cycle, cycle, cycle, like bicycles. Oh, cycles. Yeah. So I’m like, you can do a workaholic cycle just as long as you have a chill motherfucker cycle.

Yeah. I’ve got, I’ve got both of those dogs in me. Yeah.

Me too. I’ve got the puppy dog. I’ve been doing the workaholic one for too long. Yeah. You are workaholic. You’ve been working too hard for like a few years now. Yeah. That’s crazy. Which sucks. Who does that? We’re kind of just talking about ourselves on air now. Yeah. So we should, bro. It’s fucking Christmas and we’re hung over. Yeah. We did our, we ate our vegetables.

We really did. We talked about. Hey, we had a good year this year in terms of, um, podcasting. Yeah. It was good, man. I’m, I’m super stoked that we’re still doing it. Yeah. And, um, I think like, is there any, like, I would love to bring it like kind of to what we were saying with the social stuff last year. Like, I think I would love to like really bring it more into that world and do some of the

things like, like one thing that we haven’t been the best as is, like we reach out to people and sometimes we’re like, get your artworks or like people like come have a drink or like come to my space. And then we’re like, blah. Yeah. Like we’re not the best at fucking making that happen, but I really would love to. It’s, that’s not a snub by the way. We’re not snubbing you. But like, we kind of are.

Well, we, we’re not trying to. Yeah. That’s, that’s what they all say. Yeah. No, that guy was trying. That’s, that’s my problem. Anyway, we got to do a better job with that. And I think it would be really nice to like take this into some more places. Yeah. We want to meet you guys. IRL.

More connection stuff. Yeah. Oh, and just by the way, like, thanks for listening this year. It’s been really fun. Like talking to you guys online when we actually fucking respond and like reviewing your works and interviewing you and. And been able to get cool grounding, like through line. And it’s nice. Like we’re obviously like pretty casual with the releases and stuff.

Extremely casual. But you know. That’s just our style. That’s better than fucking quitting. And it’s also better than like putting out a half baked, like.

Shouldn’t speak too soon. This is pretty, pretty hard. But it’s better than putting out like. When he said half baked, I’m like. Careful what you say. It’s better than nothing at all. So that’s what you get. Yeah. Cool, man. And yeah. Looking forward to a new year. New beginnings. Resolutions.

You know. Hell yeah, dude. New starts. Cool. Yeah. We’re just going to keep trucking on. Hell yeah, bro. Yeah. And if anyone knows anything about anything, just let me know. Yeah. That’s like a stupid meme. I don’t know why I said that. Can I be laden on that too?

Yeah, I’ll show you later. I was showing Gemma that X got hands. Oh yeah. X got hands. Yeah. It’s like he’s going to fight or whatever. I’ll show you later. Okay. Should we go get a fucking Whopper, mate? Ooh. That sounds really good. All right. Let’s do it.

Okay. Well, happy holidays. We’re probably going to take a little break over Christmas. Yeah. Offices. The hung up offices are closed. Nice. Imagine if we’re going to get a Parramatta Road like office space. Oh yeah. The Parramatta Road work in the SCA show was so good. Yeah. That looked cool. We were always talking about doing a Parramatta Road zine.

Maybe we’ll do that one day. Maybe I can get us somehow reach out to you. Yeah.

That sounds cool. Yeah. All right. Okay. See ya. See you next year. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you. Bye. Peace. All I stole and I took from you But barley don’t live at home Barley don’t live at home Words don’t hold you

Broken soldiers

All my silence and my strained respect

Missed chances and the same regrets Kissed the thief and you saved the rest All my insights from retrospect But barley don’t live at home

Barley don’t live at home I count the hours since you slipped away

I count the hours that I lie awake

I count the minutes and the seconds too

All I stole and I took from you But barley don’t live at home rado Barley don’t live at home Barley don’t live at home

Barley don’t live at home Thank you.

Show notes

For our final episode of the year, we split up to investigate the SCA and NAS grad shows which opened on the very same night. We cover the vibes of art, the artists (and their parents), the teachers and grounds of these two Sydney institutions. Sorry, COFA. Matt launches into a rant about the inner west social vibe (with examples) and then goes on to tell an unrelated disaster story. We then discuss photography again, including some insight into how fashion photography sets work. Finally, Hung up issue formal apologies for the year we've had with you.  Thanks for listening this year. See you in 2024.